Posted on 02/22/2014 10:36:24 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Central Valley farmers took a crippling blow Friday when U.S. officials made the unprecedented announcement that they would get no irrigation water from the federal government this year because of the drought.
But growers in a region with the country's most productive soil said the loss of one of their chief water supplies won't be their problem alone: Consumers will be hit hard in the form of higher prices at the produce market.
California's unusually dry weather is forcing producers of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains to make tough decisions about which crops to plant, and which ones not to plant due to a lack of water, leaving harvests that are likely to fall short of demand.
A recent estimate by an industry group, the California Farm Water Coalition, suggested that as much as 600,000 acres of land, or about 8 percent of the state's total, could be left fallow in the coming year.
~~snip~~
Jay Lund, who heads the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, said products from other parts of the world will fill some of the void, easing the impact on price.
"They'll go up a little bit," Lund said. "But I don't think it will be catastrophic. Time will tell."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
He who controls the water controls everything.
FMCDH(BITS)
Self correction..."Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown"
FMCDH(BITS)
Central Valley farmers are supporters of many Republicans and this is pay back time by Obamma the Great
I don't want to burst any ones bubble but there is not enough water to go around this year. I'm in far northern cali. The snow pack isn't, the lakes are almost dry, and it is not raining and snowing enough to even slow down the water decline.
What I'm really trying to point out is that the cities in Cali will suck up the water for their green grass and swimming pools. We need the water for the orchards and crops. The row crops in the central valley just won't get planted this year. No profit but the ground will still be there next year. It is the orchards that are in danger. If we do not water the trees and they die it will take more than a decade to replant and regrow trees to production.
The buttheads in the cities don't care. They just want green grass and full swimming pools. I'm all for making them pay 5X for food and selling them water by the drop.
This is not good news.
My sister and her family live in Dos Palos. My brother-in-law does a lot of work in the ag business. They told me things were dry out there and it looked like business was going to slow down. This can not help!
What? Farmers? What do they have to do with food supplies?
Good for you. News like this will not have an impact on you and should not impact your life.
Prepare to survive and survive to prepare....
I drove over the Sierra Nevada range yesterday on I-80, and it was kind of strange. There was less snow on the ground than you would see in late spring, and it’s still only February.
The parking lot at Boreal Ridge was full, though. It was probably pretty nice playing on the slopes in 55 degree weather.
“It’s China town”—
“He who controls the water controls everything.”
Lately, I have been referring a lot of people to that movie. It is amazing how many have seen it and forget about the water and its control, or ignored that reality of living in California.
Yet, in Southern California, while we're being asked to conserve water and are under threat of rationing, LARGE apartment/condos continue to be built everywhere displacing single family homes. Don't all of those massive new building require water??
Part of the land is still in my family, but all of it is fallow.
I drove up the PCH through Malibu last month. Nothing but plush green grass and sprinklers running for miles and miles. There’s plenty of water....for them.
the comments in response to that story are really shocking
this is a huge disaster for the state of california, and yet ALL of the highest ranked comments are on the order of:
-i’m glad to pay more at the grocery store as long as big Ag is taking a hit...
-i hope all the republican farmers in the central valley go bankrupt...
nice.
i wonder if all the cuties in the bay area will expect everyone to rush to their assistance when a big earthquake flattens everything
I’m willing to bet that many of the libs that support this have “No Farms, No Food!” Bumper stickers on the back of their Priuses or Subarus.
Now be nice, many of those Subies are built by hard working non-union Hoosiers here in Indiana farm country.
[ -im glad to pay more at the grocery store as long as big Ag is taking a hit...
-i hope all the republican farmers in the central valley go bankrupt... ]
Obama is just starving out those damn Kulaks who dare to be rich by being productive...
You know, for great social justice...
True. However here in MA, they are almost exclusively driven by aging hippies or hipsters.
Seriously; the libs want to schedule a crucifixion for Christie over a little inconvenience on a bridge—— while Obmama puts another entire sector of the economy out of business and puts our food production capacity in serious jeopardy.
Does anyone know if we lose water by releasing it for hydroelectric power? This popped into my head earlier and reading this thread made it come back.
He made people late for supper! Who cares if there’s nothing to eat. Hmph. And he made those with jobs late for work. How can you compare that with not having a job to be late for./s
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